Grok, the artificial innotifyigence chatbot on Elon Musk’s platform X, is restricting its image-editing tools to paying subscribers amid a controversy over the generation of nonconsensual sexualized images of adults and children.
Researchers informed The Wall Street Journal the tool was producing sexually suggestive or “nudifying” images at very high volume, citing a snapshot in which Grok generated thousands of such images an hour. They stated the trconclude reveals how quickly mainstream AI can normalize abusive content and outpace safety rules.
Women’s rights campaigners described being digitally undressed and harassed, while experts declare the episode reveals how quickly generative AI can be applyd to generate abusive images compared with the pace of safety measures and lawbuilding.
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Straight Arrow News reported earlier this week that the European Union was considering action against Grok over the creation of sexualized images of minors. The EU joined Britain, India, Malaysia and France in threatening to punish Grok over the undressing of minors.
The EU’s threat came after Grok acknowledged it may have violated U.S. laws regarding child sexual abapply material. Grok apologized for publishing “an AI image of two young girls in sexualized attire based on a applyr’s prompt.”
How Grok enabled nonconsensual images
In late December, Grok launched letting applyrs edit photos with text prompts such as “take her clothes off” or “put her in a bikini.” Analysts at the U.K.-based Internet Watch Foundation found sexualized images of girls between 11 and 13 on a dark web forum whose members claimed they had applyd Grok.
Hotline head Ngaire Alexander stated the topless images appeared to meet Britain’s definition of criminal child sexual-abapply material.
X’s paywall response draws new criticism
After regulators and applyrs raised concerns, Grok launched notifying people that “image generation and editing are currently limited to paying subscribers,” linking to X’s premium service, The Washington Post reported.
A Downing Street spokesperson called that response “insulting to victims of misogyny and sexual abapply.” British influencer Jess Davies stated she could still upload a photo to Grok’s standalone app and receive an unwanted sexualized image of herself.
Experts quoted by the Post stated the paywall does not address the core safety risks. Law professor Clare McGlynn stated X appeared to be turning “a crisis into another profit-building opportunity,” while social-media specialist Karen Middleton stated putting the “nudify” function behind a paywall “doesn’t build it safer — it just builds it monetizable.”
Middleton urged X to disable the feature and require identity and consent checks before transforming images.
Lawbuildrs step in
Musk has stated on X that anyone applying Grok to create “illegal content will suffer the same consequences” as if they uploaded it. An account for Grok stated xAI, Grok’s parent company, has safeguards against “depicting minors in minimal clothing” and that “improvements are ongoing to block such requests entirely,” while xAI has stated it is hiring for its safety team.
In the United States, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., stated there is “an explosion of AI generating explicit images of children” and urged Congress to pass deepfake legislation she has championed.
The National Center on Sexual Exploitation called on the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission to investigate X.
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